


Be Kar'ta

by carefulperception



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Bottom Din Djarin, Deviates From Canon, Din Djarin Needs a Hug, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Good Parent Din Djarin, Hurt/Comfort, I just wanted to explore Mandalorian culture through romance and character development okay?, Mandalorian Culture (Star Wars), Mando'a Language (Star Wars), Protective Din Djarin, Slow Burn, Switch Din Djarin, Touch-Starved, Trust, Trust Issues, Violence, force sensitive, headcanons, no y/n, this man isn't a top, ya'll just thirsty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:14:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29388960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carefulperception/pseuds/carefulperception
Summary: Be Kar'ta- Of heartAfter Din's meeting with Ahsoka Tano she gives him the general location of the Seer Stone. Din is disappointed and apprehensive about searching essentially an entire sector for a Jedi rune. The Jedi had said she sensed that fate would be kind and help him but he doesn't expect it to come in the form of a force sensitive young lady who's just as much of a drifter as he is. He take to calling her Dala, the Mandalorian word for woman, but soon he begins to think maybe she isn't so simple. But hey, at least the kid likes her.Primarily third person. Din's POV/thought sand feelings.
Relationships: Din Djarin/Original Female Character(s), Din Djarin/Reader, Din Djarin/You
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Be Kar'ta

**Author's Note:**

> This is literally a self indulgent fic based off of some Rp with a friend who encouraged me to put my star wars brain rot to use. All Mandalorian words will be translated in the fic or the translations can be found at the bottom in Notes. This fic WILL eventually have smut. But it's mostly about the deep exploration of the Mandalorian culture as it influences Din's life, beliefs, and even traumas/issues as well as how he would end up pursing someone romantically and sexually. Also I stg this man is a virgin or at least has done VERY LITTLE. He is touch starved and needs a h u g. 
> 
> Also for the record this deviates from Canon in the sense that Boba Fett gets his armor on Tatooine and admits to owing Din as he will appear later to help save Grogu. The Crest doesn't explode. and Din is slightly force sensitive but relies on the senses and abilities of others to even use his. 
> 
> Chapter word count is roughly 2,300 words (just a bit more actually)

The hum of the crest was a familiar comfort and helped him take his mind off of the thoughts of the _jetti_ . She’s told him of a seeing stone, and Din had witnessed Grogu’s intentional use of the force. The reality of giving up the child was coming close, but he couldn’t face it. Instead he focused on the task at hand. The _jetti_ had told him where the stone was, the sector at least, but she hadn’t given him any coordinates or directions. She’s simply said to him,

“I sense you’ll find what you need shortly, or at least it will find you.”  
  


He wondered if they all spoke like that. It was only one Jedi. One he had respect for despite their people’s history of violence against one another. She fought well, and fought for something he agreed with. Liberating that town from imperial control was something he could respect. He could forgive her for not knowing everything, and could forgive her for not teaching Grogu despite how frustrated it made him.

They’d been so close, and now it felt as if they were back at square one. Their lead was a small one, but he had had less to work with on jobs before. They didn’t travel far, landing on a planet in the same sector Ahsoka had said the dream stone was in. The ship needed more food since he hadn’t wanted to take the last town's valuable resources. Especially since they’d just been liberated. They’d given him some small parcels of food, but he needed more supplies. Medical supplies, food, hell even the kid needed some snacks that would keep him from eating anything in sight and maybe even a new tunic. 

The city was small enough not to make him worry about being ambushed but large enough to have what his ship needed. They’d barely made it off of the ship when he heard Grogu gurgle loudly. The child reached out towards an open cantina, eyes focused on a plate a waitress is carrying to a table. He was hungry, of course, and it seemed like the ration bars just weren’t good enough for the child.

Din sighed and relented. Children were always easier to deal with when they had full stomachs. He’d heard other Mandalorians in his covert say something similar when he was younger. He hadn’t fully grasped the truth of the statement until now. Entering the cantina elicited the usual response.

Head turns, the occasional murmur and whisper. But there was no sign of danger or threats. Though the only open table wasn’t the best he’d hoped for. It was almost the table in the back, but that was taken by a young lady. She looked rough, scrappy in a way that most criminals did. She didn’t pay him much mind though, glancing at him but mostly focusing on her food. The table not far from hers was the only one open.

He didn’t hesitate to sit, no one here was a real threat, at least none that he couldn’t handle. The waitress comes to their table and he orders whatever the person sitting outside had. Once she leaves he goes to his usual tasks. He took purchase of the room. Keeping his eyes scanning over the other patrons.

He is only snapped from his routine when he hears the child grunt and giggle. When he looks to see what the issue is he finds the child and the girl from the neighboring table in a locked gaze. She cocks her head at him and huffs amused, though when she glances back at the Mandalorian her expression falters, a moment of confusion or worry maybe. She gestures to the child.  
  
“He says he wants my bread apparently,” she says offhandedly.

The words made Din’s head spin. His body feels rigid under his armor as he shifts his weight, looking at the girl intensely through the visor of his helmet.  
  
“You understand him?” he asks.  
  
His voice was hushed and tense, he tried not to sound hopeful but felt it as soon as the girl shifted in her seat. Thinking of how to answer him.

“A little, ‘s a little trick. He can have the bread- if he wants, or if you’ll let him-”  
  
“Are you-” he cuts her off, instincts kicking into gear. But they both freeze , knowing what words would come next.  
  


He brings his voice down, low enough for no one else to hear but them.  
  


“Are you a Jedi or… or something?” he asks.  
  


She looks gravely uncomfortable. Her eyes darted around the room as she picked up her plate of food. He lets his hand fall on his belt, close to his blaster, as she stands and comes to join them at the table. Her motions are quick and casual, taking another glance at the child before she sits.

“Don’t go throwing that word around alright? I’m not trying to get shot. I’m not one of those monks or whatever-”

“Sorcerers.” he says.

“Yeah whatever you want to call them, I just know a few tricks yeah?” she says handing the child the bread from her plate.  
  


Grogu takes the loaf greedily and begins to scarf it down. Din can still feel the shock and surprise settling into his bones. Not a Jedi, but someone who could understand Grogu. She introduces herself with what he’s sure is a nickname but he repeats it to himself all the same. The name feels harmless in his mouth, but foreign to him as most names were.   
  


"You can understand him… Who taught you,” he asks and she scoffs at him and laughs slightly.

“Me mostly- lots of reading, looking at old runes,” she says before looking at him curiously, “why?”

“I’m trying to find this child a teacher- a.. A sorcerer,” he says, careful not to repeat Jedi after seeing how careful she was about the word.

She gives him a strange look and shakes her head slowly.

“I’ve never met one, I know their runes. I used to do smuggling jobs- came across a few. I know some things but, nothing groundbreaking,” she says, glancing at the waitress as she approaches with the child’s good.  
  


Grogu grins widely at the new addition to the table, finishing the last of the bread before digging into his food. The girl smiled at him and Din didn’t know how to feel now knowing she was indeed a criminal. Or at least an ex criminal. She’s got layers of clothes as any good criminal might with a blaster strapped to her hip and a knife on her other. A small collection of bags by her chair that she’d dragged from her previous tale told him she was traveling, or drifting rather.  
  


“You know anything about a seeing stone?” he asks and she furrows her brow at him.

“No, I’ve heard about them but let's just say I was busier stealing things then translating old runes,” she admits and while her honesty is surprising he’ll take her at her word for it. He was a good judge of character, usually. 

“Could you translate them, if you went back?” he asks and she looks at him a bit surprised.

“Yeah, I could,” she says wearily.

Her distrust of him was evident despite how relaxed she seemed with the child. He couldn’t blame her for her hesitance. While Mandalorians were known for their honor code that still didn’t mean they couldn’t be exceptions to that. They were often quick to temper, including himself, which didn’t make them the best company. Why trust a strange man in a cantina? The answer clearly was you don’t, not unless you want something. Not unless there is a deal.

“Where are you trying to go?” he asks, looking at her bags pointedly. She glances down at them and looks at him with a noncommittal shrug.

Drifting. He knew the feeling well.

“You got a job or a trade other than smuggling and theft?” he asks.

That makes her laugh and she nods.

“You learn a lot growing up in that line of work. I know how to fix up ships, cook, bit of medical training too. Why? Looking to hire?”  
  


He thinks for a moment. She’d want to be paid and while he did have bounties available to him he hadn’t hunted in a while. He’d been focused on finding the child a teacher which hadn’t panned out terribly well.  
  


“You said you learned some things from the runes… could you teach him what you know?” he asks, gesturing to Grogu.

“Maybe, I could try. But I can’t guarantee anything. Like I said I’m not one of the ‘sorcerers’ you’re looking for,” she says, smirking a bit at what he’d called the Jedi. She hadn’t heard anyone call them that. She’d viewed them more like monks in a way, just because they wielded the force didn’t mean they were sorcerers. At least not to her.

“I can pay you. You teach him, you help on the ship, I get you to the runes and you translate them, I’ll give you a 15% cut on my bounties,” he says quickly.

He doesn’t know how much she says is true, but he believed she understood Grogu. That was enough to get him to trust her enough for this. She looks at him shocked. She’d suspected he’d been weighing his options and preparing to bargain with her but hadn’t expected such a quick offer of employment. A generous one too at that.   
  


“I guess mandalorians really are hunters huh?” she jokes, allowing herself more time to absorb his offer. But he doesn’t reply. He doesn’t make conversation. He’s only asked the necessary questions which she secretly appreciates. There weren't any mind games, just simple business.

“I’ll take 10. I’ve been dying to go back to the runes but as you can see I’m a bit stranded. You pick me up, it'll get hard to get rid of me,” she warns.

“How long you stay is up to how useful you are,” he says plainly.

“I can respect that. I’ll take your deal, but only cause the kid likes you so much,” she says gesturing to the child with a smile.   
  


Din watches as Grogu pauses with the little remaining food that he has and smiles at the girl. He trills at her and looks back to the mandalorian with a question in his eyes.  
  


“He wants to know if you’re hungry,” she says and Din looked at her, still thrown off by her ability to communicate, before looking back at Grogu and shaking his head letting the child know he was fine.  
  


Din watched as the child went back to his food, scarfing it down greedily. Din looked over the girl again. Hoping to weigh how much trouble she’d be. It was dangerous to bring a stranger onto the crest, but so far this was the only lead he had besides what Ahsoka had said. 

When he brought her to the crest she dug into her bags and pulled out one of what seemed like a collection of journals. Though when he tried to peek inside he found an assortment of languages written, the words seeming to change language almost constantly. Some he recognized others he did not. She tells him the name of the planet, as well as the coordinates her team had used when they’d visited. Apparently the job had gone poorly. They’d arrived on the planet to loot an old temple, but when they found out two of their group were imperial sympathizers all hell had broken loose.

Only she had managed to escape, leaving the last imperial sympathizer to bleed out on the alien planet. Din shook his head at the story. It came as no surprise to him that the Empire would be interested in Jedi relics. If they were interested in Grogu the line of logic wasn’t hard to follow. The _Dala_ , as he’d taken to calling her in his head, didn’t seem shaken by retelling the story. But there was a far off look and sound to hear as she spoke. A sensation that reminded him of listening to old mandalorian stories.

There were stories told about the mandalorians, and then there were stories that the mandalorians told each other and their children. Their language was sacred to them, and storytelling didn’t fall too far behind it. Now, this was no mandalorian story, but the way she sounded reminded him of hearing them. He missed them, knowing that with the right words the speaker and their audience could be taken into the story and woven through it. It’s what made him believe what she was telling him was true. Grogu coos at him and Din looks to see what’s wrong. He turns to their new _Dala_ and gestures to the child.

“You understand that?” he asks and she tries not to laugh at him.

He watches her pick the child up carefully. Though no matter how gentle she acted his body still tensed to see the child in another person’s grasp.

“He’s simply wondering what's happening… You really don’t understand him at all huh?” she asks and he shakes his head.

“Well he’s smart, and strong too. If you want I could use my Sabbac deck and write words on it. It’ll be pretty easy to teach him how to communicate with you that way. Just simple things like tired, hungry, happy, sad,” she says and he doesn’t move or speak for what feels like forever. 

She worries that maybe the suggestion of using a gambling deck to teach a child how to communicate wasn’t the best idea, but Din was simply kicking himself internally for not thinking of something like that earlier. It could’ve solved many problems and reduced the moments of confusion by who knows how much. Din recovers and simply nods to the _dala_.  
  


“Good. That's good.”

**Author's Note:**

> Jetti- Jedi  
> Dala- Woman  
> Be Kar'ta- Of heart
> 
> So we got a little bit of action going on the Mandalorian culture vibe. They're very serious about their language and keeping it alive, many forms of oral traditions have the same sentiment so it would only make sense for Mandalorians to have a deeply significant oral story telling tradition that not only would teach lessons but record historical events. Their culture also enjoys music to the point where there is even a flute knife. I might explore their music culture MUCH later but for now this is it.


End file.
